The present invention relates to a network print system which allows a network system including a client and server connected via a network such as a telephone network or the like to print a certain form (preformatted print form) or the like on the basis of a request from the client, and an information processing apparatus and its control method.
With rapid spread of the Internet and increasing population of Web servers, Web conversion of task processes is promoted. The Web server is a computer or the like which supports HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol), FTP (File Transfer Protocol), and the like, and is connected to the network, and can send a document data file or the like, which is designated by a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) and is described in HTML, to a client on the network in accordance with a request.
On the other hand, a client computer such as a personal computer displays an HTML document received from the Web server using an application program called a Web browser (to be also simply referred to as a browser) having a function of displaying data (HTML document) described in HTML. The browser not only displays an HTML document but also has a function of making the user input data on the screen and sending back that data to the Web server. Note that Web conversion is to allow data exchange with a server by designating a URL from a client.
In the Web-converted task system, a client computer is installed with a browser that can display and input information, and the operator executes task processes such as display, input, and the like using the browser as a user interface. In this case, a task is executed as follows. That is, a Web server receives information input from the browser on the client, processes the received information, and sends it back to the browser. Then, the browser executes necessary operations such as display, and the like to obtain a result.
In this manner, when the server passes data such as documents, images, and the like onto the Web browser, such data files are placed on a specific directory (indicating a document route in HTTP terminology; to be referred to as a directory hereinafter) that the client can access in a file system of the Web server. When the client requests that file, the server passes the URL of that file onto the client. The client designates the URL, and the server sends the required file to the client using, e.g., FTP.
A print process indispensable for ordinary task processes bottlenecks task processes via the browser. First, it is hard to obtain a high-quality print of, e.g., a form according to a given format using the browser. The normal browser has a print function, which merely prints a hard copy of an image displayed on the screen via a printer controlled by the browser. This print scheme also suffers problems in terms of print of an image larger than a paper size, page end positions upon printing a plurality of pages, and the like, and cannot obtain a high-quality print. When displayed data includes dot image data, it is impossible to print that data with high quality.
Second, clients are distributed on the network, and when many clients issue process requests to a single server, the load on the server becomes heavier, and each client must wait for a longer period of time. In the worst case, the server may go down.
Especially, in such network system, reply data from the server in response to a client request is sent back to the client along the same route as the network route of the request data, and reply data as print data normally has a size greatly larger than the request data. For this reason, when many client requests are processed at the same time, the traffic of reply data from the server occupies the network, and client requests can hardly reach the server although the server has processing capacity margin.
Third, when the server suffers a trouble, all services stop, and such situation may result in a serious problem, i.e., suspension of task processes.
Fourth, when a printer under the control of the client prints data received from the server, if a plurality of printers are connected to the client, data to be printed cannot always be normally printed by a default printer.
Fifth, in a conventional print scheme, when data includes an image exceeding a paper size, or when a plurality of pages of data are to be printed, one image may be divided into a plurality of pages depending on the page end position. Also, since the divided position is set irrespective of the print contents, upper and lower portions of numerals may be printed on different paper sheets. As a result, a high-quality output result cannot be obtained by simple operation.
Furthermore, in this scheme, a file placed in the directory of the Web server can be accessed by every clients which can access that server, thus posing a security problem of information. Especially, when the Web server and clients are connected via a WAN (wide-area network), information to be exchanged must be secure. Especially, in case of a print process of data which is important in terms of task processes, a function of prohibiting a third party other than the user who requested the process from printing is required. On the other hand, since some data require higher processing speed rather than security, data must undergo selective security measures.
Conventionally, to warrant the security of information to be exchanged, a protocol which is not vulnerable to unauthorized access or monitoring is used. However, such protocol cannot be used unless the entire system is compatible to that protocol.
For example, when a network printer is used in such network print system, the protocol cannot be used unless that network printer itself is compatible to an encryption/decryption protocol.
In addition, when the format of a form to be printed is to be invalidated or changed after a given date, a function of restricting the use of an old format and prompting the user not to print in the old format is demanded.
Some Web browsers have a cache function based on the file names and URLs on the Web server according to their operation setups. In such case, when the user submits a data request to the server using such Web browser, if the server has updated the contents of that data without changing its file name, the Web browser may open the cached file and fail to get the latest file.
Furthermore, when print data sent from the server to a client is printed on the client side, if a printer which is to be used to print that data is busy due to a print request from another application or the like, the next print request must be enqueued until that print process ends. When the user wants to obtain a print result as quickly as possible, a distributed print process on the client side, i.e., transfer of the process to another nearby printer, is required. Also, a function of automatically selecting a printer in an optimal condition from a plurality of printers in accordance with the type of form that the user wants to print is required.